Battle of Vin Drin Dop

The Battle of Vin Drin Dop (1969) was a minor battle of the Vietnam War that occurred when the 1st Battalion, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel William Kilgore stormed a Viet Cong-held village along the Nung River in Vietnam. The Americans came in on helicopters, playing Wagner's "Flight of the Valkyries" to scare the Vietnamese villagers, and their helicopters bombarded the Viet Cong with missiles and minigun bullets as they ran to take up defensive positions. The American helicopters then landed, with the troops disembarking, and one helicopter was taken out by a Viet Cong female sapper, who was then killed by minigun bullets fired from Kilgore's helicopter. The Americans then ordered a napalm strike on Viet Cong mortar positions in the woods, clearing the town of Viet Cong presence. During the battle, Kilgore was concerned mostly with the availability of the tide for surfing, and two California surfers-turned-soldiers surfed in the water as explosions occurred all around them. After the battle, Kilgore invited surfer Lance B. Johnson to wait 20 minutes until the tide came in so that he could surf, but the napalm blasts ruined the winds, and the Americans were ultimately unable to surf.